Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The Egyptian Elections - Sabahi and Sisi

With a big election underway in Egypt, the
UFAA supports Hamdeen Sabahi, the Nasserist candidate who is trailing
incumbent General Sisi 9 to 1. That said, Sisi is not so bad, despite his image in the western media as a brutal "strongman".

As this article details, both candidates have big plans for infrastructure
and economic development, though they lack clear plans for how to
finance these projects.

Sabahi seems more focused on building
Egypt's industrial and agricultural capabilities, whereas Sisi has been
criticized for focusing too heavily on tourism. Infrastructure and
self-sufficiency, especially in agriculture is quite necessary – Egypt,
with 80 million people, used to be a breadbasket, but is now the world's
#1 importer of grain, and its land is being desertified by "market"
pressures.

While Egypt has significant oil resources and still
has some industrial power in the areas of textiles, steel, chemicals
and autos, it would do well to re-commit to the path of Nasserism, and
to be a force of development in the Middle East and Africa.

Both candidates seem essentially committed to this path, and we wish
them well in the fight to put Egypt back on the path of national
independence, and out of the grasp of the IMF and NATO.